General Mills gets favourable order from Madras High Court on trade mark Trix

In a relief to US-based food major General Mills Inc, the Madras High Court has remanded a matter related to registration of trade mark of its famous breakfast cereal brand Trix, before the Trade Marks registry for further proceedings.

General Mills application was rejected by the Trade Marks Registry on finding that Amul had registered the same trade mark.

The company in a writ petition filed against the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks sought quashing of an IPAB order in November, 2011, and to direct the Registrar to advertise its application in the Trade Marks Journal.

Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan observed that the Trix trade mark of Amul was revoked by the IPAB through another order in July 16, 2012, in a revocation petition by the US firm.

"We, thus, set aside the impugned order dated May 28, 2008, of the Deputy Registrar (of Trade Marks) as well as the order dated November 25, 2011, of the IPAB and remand the matter before the Registrar of Trade Marks to proceed in accordance with the said Act, taking into consideration the subsequent developments of the rectification of the identical trade mark, which was already registered," said the bench.

General Mills has registration certificates from various parts of the world, claiming user in US since 1910 and the application for registration in US was filed in 1954. Amul's trade mark, on the other hand, was used by the Union for a brief period during 1986 and thereafter, launched during August, 2007.

Green Mills, which has a subsidiary Green Mills India Pvt Ltd since 1995, owns other brands including Pillsbury Chakki Fresh Atta among others.